“Old” Habits Die Hard

As I get older, my interests and hobbies in life have started to shift. For context, I have grown up along a very traditional route: go to college, get your degree, grind your corporate job, get married, start a family. The college years were filled with late night parties, hanging with new friends, being active in sports and clubs, and traveling on the two pennies I managed to scrape together. I won’t include studying on that list because I did very little of that. However, I did manage to get my degree and took my master’s courses much more seriously.

One of my favorite pastimes was playing beer pong with friends. There were several mentions of beer pong tournaments at my wedding so you know its legit. My husband will say my skills were based on my experience playing basketball and a whole lot of luck. That’s because I managed to beat him more times than not. Swear I’m not competitive at all.

A couple years after college my husband and I got married and were fortunate enough to buy a house before the insanity of what the housing market is today. A lot of people thought we were crazy but we decided on a cozy little brick two family home that needed quite a bit of work. My husband and I are pretty handy when it comes to most things DIY, and when I say my husband and I . . . we all know I really mean I have the vision and he has the execution.

As we settled into our new home, we threw parties reminiscent of our college days, but not as frequent. We both have full time careers that require a lot of focus and problem-solving skills so it wasn’t as easy to show up hungover. My interests and hobbies started to shift.

I learned how to knit and gave everyone in our families hand knit hats for Christmas that year. My husband put in 5 raised garden beds the following summer for my micro-garden dreams. Around this time is about when those Friday night ragers faded out and a tall pour of dry red with a game of scrabble became much more enticing.

As an aside, a game of scrabble between my husband and I could go one of two ways:

1. We both have a drink or two and laugh as my husband challenges the made up words I play, already knowing he will probably win but happy to be enjoying his company.

2. Divorce

I think what I’m trying to say is that while I’m not quite at the level of yelling at speeding cars to slow down in the neighborhood or asking my children how to work the technology, I try to stay honest with myself about doing things that make me happy. The things that make me happy are subject to change. Sometimes it’s going on fire when I hit the last cup in pong to send us into overtime, and sometimes its reading the James Patterson Women’s Murder Club series by the fire after the kids are in bed. Either way, it’s knowing that I’m ok with change and continuing to grow as a person. When you boil it down, it’s always about balance.